


Blooktune

by Tiger_Millionare



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff, Gen, Napstabot, corporeal!napstablook, male!reader, meaning he's a robot not a ghost, minor depression, post-pacafist, self-hate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 15:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5422829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_Millionare/pseuds/Tiger_Millionare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Napstablook had always been uneasy around others. Always nervous of everyone around him, what they thought, how critically they were judging his every action. So needless to say when he wound up becoming the sound mixer for Mettaton's shows, he had a somewhat dire case of stage fright.</p>
<p>It's not that he didn't want to perform, it's just the "in front of people" bit that he couldn't deal with.</p>
<p>He was so worried he'd mess up, that he'd do something wrong and no one would like him, he found escape in the only way he could think of; hiding in another body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blooktune

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of Napstabot, and couldn't help but write something with him. This was meant to be a one-shot, but I kinda got carried away...

I know there isn't an official design for robot!Blook, but here's the design I will be using with the story :

 

[[art by me](http://p--dot.tumblr.com/post/136367324160/i-decided-to-try-my-hand-at-a-napstabot-and-ended)]

 

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: * *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: * *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *

 

Everything around the robot buzzed with energy, and the air swelled with the heat of a thousand eager bodies. Cheers bounced off the walls of the large auditorium, blending together into a single enthusiastic hum. Hardly anyone had bothered staying in their seats, instead pressing themselves as close to the stage as possible; hands grasping the edge where the could.

Mettaton's voice rang through the enormous room, crackling slightly with the metallic twang it'd picked up after the monster had inhabited Dr. Alphys's robot. Napstablook hadn't much cared for it at first, but had come to tolerate it, if not fully accept it as a part of Mettaton. Though the overall transformation from his cousin the ghost to his cousin the robot had been somewhat...radical.Iit wasn't like Napstablook wasn't happy for his cousin, he'd support Mettaton in whatever the eccentric monster did.

He wasn't in a position to protest against his cousin's choices anyway. After they'd escaped Mt. Ebott four years ago, Mettaton had been nice enough to take both him and their friend Shyren as backups in his "performances". Napstablook wasn't much for crowds, but he was happy just being able to spend time with his cousin. Besides, Mettaton had given him the job of mixing, and occasionally writing, the music and sounds for shows, which was pretty cool.

And by now, Mettaton's robotic form seemed almost as natural as his monster one. Besides, complaining at this point would just make him come off as hypocritical, seeing as he'd made the exact same decision to go corporeal not long after arriving above ground.

Despite his initial hesitations, maintaining a physical form wasn't nearly as painful or uncomfortable as he'd first presumed it to be. For the most part, it just felt...weird. Though Napstablook had outright fought the idea when Mettaton'd first brought it up, and it had taken a good deal of begging and pleading on his cousin's part before Napstablook had finally relented.

The whole "physical presence with actual appendages" thing had been a lot to take in at first, especially the "appendages" bit. Hands had taken the longest to adjust to. All the different finger movements to keep track of, then having to learn how each digit moved together to create complicated shapes that could bend around and latch onto things.

He'd determined the contraptions impossible, and for a whole two weeks had flat out refused to use them. Napstablook had been resolved to learn how to go through the remainder of his existence without picking anything up. It hadn't worked out too well. And Napstablook hadn't wanted to inconvenience anybody by asking them to handle objects for him. And after a while, it became...troublesome.

It'd taken almost forever, with an incredible amount of practice and relearning, but he'd managed to learn the basic functions of hands. He'd even found that, when used properly, fingers held some distinct advantages.

Such as operating his turntable. Napstablook slid a finger across one of the faders in front of him, gradually dimming the music as Mettaton launched himself into some theatrical monologue.

Napstablook's hands flew across his turntable with practiced ease; turning dials and adjusting tracks where necessary. Though by now the movements were so natural they were almost subconscious, he forced himself to focus on every function of every button, every dial. On every movement of his hands around the board.

Though he didn't like admitting it, his intense focus was one of the only things keeping his mind from the hundreds of people swarming below him, eyes trained on the very stage he sat upon. Napstablook knew no one was really all that interested in him, at least not while his cousin was center stage. But people's eyes always tended to drift towards the awkward little robot sitting in the corner, out of sight to all but peripheral vision.

Just the thought of all those eyes. Not looking at him, not directly anyway, but aware of his presence nonetheless. It unnerved him to no end. Losing himself in his DJing was the only thing that kept him from breaking down under all those indirect stares.

When he'd first started performing in front of an audience, the unmistakably fluid melody of his cousin's voice flowing through the air around him had been enough to get him through a performance. But lately, he'd been having a harder and harder time keeping his attention from the hundreds of eyes below him.

Because Napstablook sort of had a case of what is commonly referred to as horrific stage fright.

But he loved supporting his cousin, loved getting the chance to share his music. So really, he had no excuse to  _not_ be there, in front of all those people. Not making any mistakes. Maintaining a professional, flawless image. Only to fail at the expense of his cousin's hard-sought image, and...

Napstablook's breathing got funny for a second, almost on the edge of hyperventilation. Oh no, oh no, no no. He could feel his chest hitch at the thought of everyone watching him, listening to every irregularity in his breath. Waiting for him to do something wrong, to mess up. Like it was only a matter of time before he did something horrifically wrong. He should be used to this by now, why wasn't he used to this by now? Really, how pathetic was he? It'd been years since he'd started performing, how was he still terrified of going in front of people? It was pitiful.

He couldn't even go on stage without pretending the audience wasn't there. Just completely ignoring their existence, barring the thought of the hundreds of eyes trained on, or rather  _near_ , him from his mind. Otherwise he'd break down. He'd embarrass his cousin, and everyone else who'd worked so hard to get them there, and then no one would like Hapstablook anymore and oh no...

Napstablook was finding it harder and harder to ignore the pulsating presence of the crowd below him, not after their existence had wormed its way so firmly into his mind. As if to torment him, his eyes began to involuntarily stretch across the audience, forcing him to take in every detail of every person until he felt as if he might be sick.

That one was a human with long brown hair, her face soft and malleable so much so that he could perfectly picture it contorting in disgust.

There was a bunny monster who was pumping her fists in the air in time with the steadily thrumming music. Napstablook could suddenly see those fists pumping in a much more violent way.

That monster over there already looked upset, probably having been dragged here against his will by some girlfriend or sister.

Napstablook examined each member of the audience in turn, and each time they seemed to get angrier; angry at him, at his cousin. Angry that Napstablook did something stupid, messed up, ruined it for everyone. All their faces began contorting into antagonistic frowns or sneers. Napstablook couldn't drag his gaze away, couldn't force himself to divert his attention from the menacing faces. He could feel the threat of tears prickling at the back of his ductless eyes, and forced down a small anguished cry.

That human girl was young enough she'd probably throw a tantrum.

Napstablook was finding it incredibly hard to breathe.

That duck monster looked kind of creepy, and his face was set in such a way that Napstablook cringed slightly as he imagined it distorting into an ugly grimace. There was another duck monster beside him who had claws that looked like they could tear through metal as if it were cloth.

Napstablook could feel his hands begin to shake slightly.

Next to her was another human. And then a monster made entirely of flames. Next to her was a sizeable group of human teenagers. One of them, the youngest probably, was trying his hardest to look like he didn't want to be there, though his eyes kept darting almost reverently to Mettaton, ruining the charade. And next to him was...

Napstablook stopped abruptly in his methodical observations at the sight of a rather peculiar human seated in the middle of the second row. He didn't really  _look_ all that different from a regular human, at least, Napstablook didn't think he did. The robot wasn't incredibly familiar with humans and what they considered to be normal. Though he wasn't exactly familiar with humans in general. For whatever reason, he'd always felt rather uncomfortable around humans despite his own humanoid appearance.

But this human in particular seemed to hold a different...air to him. He was just so...calm. Despite being in the center of probably the loudest area of the auditorium, he looked almost serene. He wasn't freaking out or pushing past people like all the other fans, but he wasn't feigning annoyance as much of the less-enthusiastic audience members were, either.

He just seemed to be sitting there, nodding his head slightly in time to the music, and simply enjoying the performance. It was...nice. In a weird way. Kind of refreshing; a change from the regular crowd.

Abruptly realizing that Mettaton had just flung himself into an improv series of "stunts", Napstablook forced his attention away from te human. He hurriedly fumbled with some of the dials on his chest until he'd pulled up his sound effect library.

Mettaton needed to stop having random "bursts of genius" (he found practiced routines "stifling") on stage like this, Napstablook didn't know how much more their agent could take. Last time the Eel's face had gotten so red Napstablook was surprised the monster's head hadn't combusted.

Napstablook let out the tense breath he'd been holding as Mettaton finished the odd set of acrobatic poses he'd thrown himself into; finally returning to the rehearsed routine. Clicking one of the dials on his chest, Napstablook switched back to the preset playlist. He had to admit, being the machine that ran all his equipment definitely had its perks in the convenience department. He always knew exactly where everything was without searching for it because it was sort of programmed into his brain.

And while he was sure their manager was no doubt seething backstage, the unpredicted stunt had managed to drag him out of a near stage-fright-induced breakdown. Though somehow he'd been level-headed enough to respond to the situation in the first place, so maybe he'd started to calm down on his own.

It was odd; even after narrowly avoiding completely freaking out on stage, Napstablook couldn't seem to keep his gaze from the audience. Though in all honesty, it wasn't really the entire audience as much as one specific member. One peculiar human, to be specific. And despite his efforts, Napstablook couldn't seem to keep his focus from that particular human for the remainder of the performance.

*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *

As soon as the lights had dimmed, signaling the end of the night, Napstablook was out of his chair and down the stairs leading backstage. He couldn't stay on that horrible platform a second longer, not after his near-panic attack today.

Normally, Mettaton would give some elaborate encore, so shows were almost never over when they were supposed to be. Napstablook was fine with that most of the time, but today he didn't think he could take any more. He  _did_ feel bad about robbing the other bot of the extra attention, but Napstablook hoped his cousin wouldn't mind.

He always seemed to have this sixth sense of what Napstablook was feeling, so that Mettaton almost always knew exactly what his cousin needed even before the robot did himself.

So he wasn't surprised when he heard the tell-tale sound of his cousin walking up behind him. "What's wrong Blooky?" his voice was soft and gentle, absent of the grating fluidity he used when addressing a crowd.

Napstablook let hs gaze fall, blinking hard. "Just...tired, I guess. Sorry for cutting your show short." Mettaton gave him a worried look, but didn't push him further. Instead he wrapped one arm around the shoulders of the much smaller robot, pressing him comfortingly to his side.

"It's completely fine Blooky, I don't mind at all. I was thinking of skipping an encore tonight anyway, one of the speakers on the left side blew out and I didn't want to rob half the audience of the full experience."

Napstablook knew his cousin would take any chance to perform in front of a crowd even if there were no speakers at all, that he was just saying this to make him feel better. But Napstablook couldn't help but smile a little anyway.

"Besides," Mettaton bent down so he was eye-level with Napstablook, holding his hand palm out in front of his face as if he were confiding some big secret, "Shyren looked pretty eager to end early as well. I saw her catch the eye of a cute looking monster in the front row, if you know what I mean."

Napstablook gave another smile at his cousins misguided observation. Mettaton had this bad habit of seeing things that weren't there, or reading too far into things. Most people got annoyed with it pretty quickly, but Napstablook had always found it endearing.

Mettaton, looking satisfied at helping cheer his cousin up, placed a hand firmly on one hip. "Well, I should probably head towards the lobby soon." Mettaton straightened suddenly, removing his presence from Napstablook's side, "Wouldn't want to deprive the fans of their idol! See you later Blooky." Mettaton twirled his hand in an elaborate wave, before strutting out the door, heels clicking on the ground after him.

Napstablook let out a tired sigh. His cousin was certainly...eccentric. If that was the right word for it. It was a good thing Napstablook hadn't let Mettaton's design for his body go through, otherwise he'd be a lot more glittery and much taller than he would have liked.

Nevertheless, Mettaton filled him with an odd sense of relaxed comfort that only he could.

Napstablook fell against the nearby wall, slouching against it as if the wall were the only thing keeping him from falling. In all fairness, it probably was. He wished his cousin would hurry up so they could just leave already.

Though it  _had_ been one of their biggest shows in a while, which explained why Mettaton was taking an unusually long amount of time. He was probably still getting through what was no doubt a sizeable crowd of fans.

He was beginning to get anxious doing nothing, which was odd because nothing was one of his favorite activities. But for some reason, he was just feeling off today.

Napstablook lifted himself from the wall, choosing a direction to walk in. He aimlessly made his way through the surprisingly small backstage area, ducking around the odd crewman here and there.

He passed Shyren once, talking in a hushed voice with her sister Lemon Bread. She must have been excited about something, because her voice was uncharacteristically peppy and optimistic in tone, and in addition to this he could see a light dusting of pink across her cheeks. She was trying to make some intricate gesture with her limbs, or rather lack thereof.

Maybe Mettaton hadn't been so off kilter after all.

He'd circled the entire room several times, yet he still felt jumpy. Even though he wasn't on stage anymore, Napstablook was still struggling to contain a minor panic attack. For whatever reason, he was having a harder time calming down than usual.

Perhapps some fresh air might help clear his muddled and slightly panic-y thoughts. Napstablook stopped his pointless parade around backstage, scanning the area for the exit. As it was, there happened to be two doors with the glowing "EXIT" sign nailed above them. Napstablook hesitated, looking between the two doors.

Mettaton had just left through one, so that meant it undoubtedly led directly into the heart of a crowd of people. Napstablook decided to take the other door.

But when he stepped into the comparably brighter room, he was met with the dull brown carpet and pale yellow walls of the lobby. Napstablook's chest tightened, his entire body clenching; expecting a mass of people to swarm up to him in over-excitement.

But after nervously scanning the area, he realized he was in a narrow, and completely deserted, hallway. It seemed to be pushed all the way to the side of the structure, almost like an afterthought. The wall on his right was lined with tinted windows that overlooked a near-empty side-street.

Napstablook wished he could just crawl through the window, escape into the cool night. But he didn't see any latches, and he'd probably be too self-conscious to climb out the window anyway. But maybe if he could find another exit, manage to escape without being spotted...

There didn't appear to be any direct exits in the hallway. He'd come out of a door pushed against the far end of the hall, and there was nothing but empty wall space until it opened up to the main lobby at the other end.

He began making his way down the dismal corridor, hanging close to the wall as he went. Napstablook had almost reached the other end when he was frozen in place by the sound of energetic voices. Pushing himself further against the wall than he already was, he tentatively peeked around the corner o the hall. The first thing he saw was his cousin amidst a group of eager fans on the other side of the lobby, and he immediately ducked back into his hallway.

His heart was pounding, and he was hoping beyond hope that no one had seen him. He was really starting to regret his leaving backstage. How had he thought that this could, in any way, have been a good idea. He wasn't good with people; especially humans (which happened to compose most of the fan group surrounding Mettaton).

It's not like he  _hated_ talking to fans. In fact, it was nice to be recognized every once in a while, as long as the person he was talking to didn't get too weird. But he couldn't handle it if there were this many, crowding and shoving past one another. Napstablook wasn't exactly the most social monster in the world, and his brain had this incredibly bad habit of completely shutting down when he felt overwhelmed.

Napstablook's eyes darted around the part of the lobby visible from the hall, desperately searching for some means of escape that wouldn't involve being bombarded by a hoard of people.

His eyes landed on an inconspicuous side exit, set at the edge of another hall linked with the lobby, not twenty feet from where he stood now. Of course, getting over there would mean entering the main lobby for a few terrifying seconds. Napstablook gulped audibly.

He briefly considered turning back, but quickly decided against it. He'd already left, and it would be awkward to walk back in just moments later. Besides, what if Shyren wasn't there anymore? She'd probably think that Napstablook had already left, and would end up leaving, herself. Then she and Mettaton would end up going without him and he'd be stuck trying to find a way home on his own. Napstablook shuddered.

He should never have left in the first place.

Napstablook took a deep, shaky breath. Stealing the few nerves he had, the bot threw himself against the opposite wall. Glancing out at where he could now clearly see Mettaton standing, Napstablook checked the crowd, making sure that no one was looking in his direction, before ducking out of the hall.

Hugging the wall so closely his shoulder skimmed the glass of the windows once or twice, Napstablook all but sprinted to the other corridor.

The second he was out of sight, he let out a tense breath but didn't slow. Having successfully made it through without being spotted, Napstablook was so relieved he wasn't paying attention and ended up smacking right into someone. The other only stumbled back some, but Napstablook tripped backward before falling firmly on his rear.

He sat there for a moment, dazed, before jerking into a rigid sitting position. Pure terror rolled through him. He'd been sighted. No this person was going to call their friends over, draw him into the attention of the crowd, do  _something_ that would end with him getting mobbed by a bunch of people. It's not like this sort of thing hadn't happened before. Him getting crowded until he wasn't able to do anything but stand there motionless until Mettaton had a chance to come pull him out of there.

Napstablook didn't know whether the other bot helped him because he felt bad for his cousin, or if he just wanted the extra attention. Probably both.

But to Napstablook's surprise, he was only met with, "Oh jeez, sorry are you okay?"

Slightly confused at the incredibly passive response (whoever they were had to have realized who  _he_ was by now, there weren't that many bright blue robots walking around), he looked up to find himself now gaping at the odd human from before.

Realizing that quite a few seconds had gone by since the human had spoken, Napstablook scrambled to his feet; bumbling out apologies, "Oh, oh no I'm so sorry. I should've been looking where I was going, I was just in such a rush to--but I could have knocked you over. And even then you were kind enough to ask if I was okay, even though  _I_ was the one who ran into  _you,_ and--"

"Wow, hold on calm down a second," he quickly interjected, raising his hands in front of him. "It's cool, okay? You don't need to apologize so much, you just bumped into me. And I wasn't really paying attention either, so it was at least half my fault."

Napstablook blinked at the human with surprised eyes, opening his mouth to say something only to draw up a blank and close it again. Several long seconds passed, and it hit Napstablook that he might be making the human feel awkward. He started to say something again, but then, he reasoned, what if he ended up saying something that made the human feel even  _more_ awkward. He promptly closed his mouth again, lips sealing into a tight line.

"You look like a fish," you the human pointed out, letting out a slight chuckle. Napstablook was shocked out of his convoluted train of thought at the odd observation, "I, I--"

"BROOOOOOtherrrrrrr!" A piercing yell sounded behind Napstablook, causing him to jump at the intensity of the voice.

The human's eyes darted up to somewhere behind Napstablook. Before the bot had the chance to turn to look at what the human was staring at, he gave Napstablook an almost knowing look. "Guess that's for me," he said, his voice a little exasperated.

"Well," the boy clapped his hands together, "It was nice meeting you and all that, but I better go find my sister. Though, that isn't going to be too hard with the way she's yelling," he let out another small laugh, "And outside of the fact that you can probably hear her all the way outside, there's quite the group of fans tailing her. And I'm gonna guess you weren't making a beeline for the exit because you wanted to be swarmed by fans, hmm?"

Napstablook gave him a surprised look. The boy responded by actually  _winking_ , before hurrying off to meet his sister and her friends, leaving Napstablook wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

What an odd human.

**Author's Note:**

> Just to clarify, this is post pacifist, and the "peculiar human" is the Reader.  
> I have a bunch of this written already, so hopefully I'll be able to post chapters about once a week. Thanks for reading.  
> 


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